ARLINGTON, Texas — The shot clock above the basket at the northeast end of AT&T Stadium screamed at Florida All-American Scottie Wilbekin that he had 8 seconds to make a play. This was the mirror opposite of the moment we’d been talking about all week.

It was supposed to be UConn’s Shabazz Napier contending with his opponent’s infuriating defense at the game’s decisive moment. Instead, it was Florida trying desperately to catch up after misspending its early command of the game, and it was Wilbekin with Napier in his grill trying to manufacture an opportunity for the Gators.

Napier did not budge. Wilbekin faked once. He still didn’t budge. Wilbekin faked again, and this time he found Napier smacking at the ball and knocking it loose, and by the time Napier recovered it and sent it ahead to backcourt partner Ryan Boatright the Huskies were on their way to a fourth NCAA championship game since 1999 — but the first of a new regime.

It was coach Kevin Ollie’s Huskies who were 63-53 winners over heavily favored Florida in the first NCAA Tournament semifinal Saturday evening. The Gators had won 30 consecutive games entering the Final Four and were the last No. 1 seed remaining.

UConn is the first No. 7 seed to reach the Final Four, and thus the first ever to advance to the NCAA championship game.

Florida ganged up on Napier and did everything at its disposal to limit his influence, but when the game was being decided he came up with that steal just inside the 7-minute mark and then a second, as well as an assist across the top of Florida’s 1-3-1 zone defense that put the Huskies ahead 10 with 6:20 to play. Napier scored only 12 points, but passed for six assists, allowed sharpshooter Michael Frazier a single 3-pointer to start the game and guided the team through a difficult early period.

Daniels was an essential force for the Huskies, growing rapidly into the player he was projected to be when recruited out of Los Angeles and Florida’s IMG Academy in the spring of 2011. He scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds, taking full advantage of the extraordinary attention paid to Napier. Daniels said afterward that he had spoken to UConn Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun, who won three titles for the Huskies, and promised a significant performance.

"He was like, 'Man, nobody is talking about you," Daniels said. "All I said was not to worry about it because everybody was going to be talking about me after today.

"We wanted to prove everybody wrong because nobody really gave us a shot to win this game."

Guard Ryan Boatright scored 11 point and grabbed six rebounds, but he handled the defensive assignment on Wilbekin most of the night and was downright destructive. Wilbekin was only 2-of-9 from the field for 4 points, and he was credited with just one assist. As a team, the Gators passed for only three assists in shooting 19-of-49 from the field.

"It was tough to find a lot of shots," UF center Patric Young said.

The Gators began the game with a rather unsurprising defensive swarm that made it appear UConn might never crack double figures. UConn missed three of its first four shots and turned it over meekly the other two times, including a fumble of a sizzling entry pass by Napier and then a botched short-range entry pass that wound up bouncing over the end line.

Florida built a 10-4 lead early, but it appeared as though that advantage would be cut in half when Daniels drove for a layup off a steal by Napier. Florida defensive specialist Will Yeguete tried to close and appeared to foul Daniels as he rose into his layup. Official Michael Stephens saw Yeguete fall to the floor and called Daniels for an offensive foul.

It seemed at that moment it might propel Florida to an absolute embarrassment of the Huskies. When reserve forward Dorian Finney-Smith powered into a layup and was fouled, his 3-point play made it 13-4. Then a free throw by Casey Prather and a jumper from Wilbekin extended it to 16-4. UConn was 2-of-7 from the field at that point, with four turnovers.

When Florida wasn’t trapping ball screens set for Napier and shoving two long, powerful defenders in his face, it was switching them and leaving him to cope with a true big man. And, frankly, Napier did not respond to the challenge over the course of the first 20 minutes.

The play for a small, quick guard when confronted by a true big man, such as 6-9, 240-pound Patric Young, is to attempt to drive the ball past him and make a play in the lane. But given repeated opportunities, Napier chose to try to step back into 3-pointers. He appeared to be conscious enough of the big guy guarding him that he never was able to get one of those to land.

Napier did not score until inside the 5-minute mark of the first half, when he made a move that froze Wilbekin and dribble right into an open shot. At last given a clean look at the goal, he nailed the jumper to make it a 20-18 Florida lead.

It was odd how the Huskies had gotten back into the game. Part of it was dogged defense, particularly on the part of Boatright, who allowed Wilbekin only two baskets and one assist in the first half. A lot of it was the inability of Young to hit most anything he tried, from a layup to a jumphook to a free throw. He was 1-of-5 from the field, 1-of-4 from the line. UConn center Amida Brimah did a great job providing a defensive presence for Young to contend with, but some of the shots seemed to be launched without great confidence.

UConn eventually took the lead when UF coach Billy Donovan switched to a 2-3 zone even though his man-to-man seemed not to be an issue. The Huskies ran a great piece of zone offense that resulted in Daniels getting the ball inside to senior wing Niels Giffey, who converted a layup and was fouled for a 3-point play that made it 21-20.

The Huskies extended their 25-22 halftime lead to as much as 10 points in the first eight minutes of the second half, with Boatright’s defense again the primary ingredient in their surge. He set up Wilbekin and helped knock the ball loose for Daniels to gather it; Daniels then forwarded it to Boatright for a slam. He scored four of the team’s next six points to make it 39-29 with 12:43 to go.

Young at last found his touch before the Gators could be run out of the stadium. He hit from each block to help reduce their deficit to 39-35, and it got as close as a 3-point deficit when Young actually made a couple of free throws.

Quiet force Terrence Samuel, a freshman who came off the bench for four very big points, executed a strong drive that cut through the heart of the Gators defense to lift it back to a 5-point margin, and then Napier threw up the great wall of Connecticut in front of Wilbekin. It was not the moment we expected, not the defender we expected to create it. And this was not the team most anyone expected to win.

But who could be surprised that Napier would be the hero?

"I am a point guard," Napier said. "I can score, but at the end of the day I know that I am a point guard."